Tobias Harris had the curious distinction last season of being both the Detroit Pistons’ best player for much of the year, and playing off the bench in 48 of his 82 games. After Reggie Jackson returned from injury in early December, the starting lineup of Jackson, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Marcus Morris, Tobias Harris and Andre Drummond was an unmitigated disaster.

This lineup was the third most-used five-man unit for the Pistons last year. The group played 385 minutes and had an astonishing net rating of -12.3, meaning they were outscored by 12.3 points per every 100 possessions. That’s a significant sample, and a truly remarkable level of ineptitude. Among all five-man units that played over 150 minutes together last year, only the Phoenix Suns’ unit of Eric Bledsoe, Devin Booker, T.J. Warren, Marquese Criss and Alex Len was worse.

In something of a desperation move to shake things up and put a different look on the floor, head coach Stan Van Gundy...